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Basque communities in the diaspora have maintained collective memories that are intrinsic to their ethnic identity. Essential to that ensemble are the oppression and self-defense they perceive the Basque people to have experienced through the centuries, and the historical memory of the fueros and of selfgovernment that is central to the reproduction of a nationalist project. Today, their established diaspora institutions are repeatedly described as nonpolitical, and although it is true that there have been few recent attempts at inXuencing their respective host societies’ domestic politics, their members’ past activities and interventions with host- and home-country politics were at times quite inXuential. In Argentina and Uruguay, a relative critical mass of Basques and the recognition of their contributions to each society have made it easier to gain political access and inXuence. In the United States and Australia, Basques are still a relatively unknown ethnic group and have only rarely collectively attempted to inXuence policy at the national level or in communities where they are geographically concentrated. Basques in Belgium and Peru are relatively insigniWcant in number and lack political clout. Since the 1980s, the impetus of the diaspora institutions has been cultural, and the political aspects of Basque diaspora nationalism usually have been consigned to individual choice, though this was not always the case. Nationalism in the Basque diaspora exists separately from nationalism in the homeland. Neither a copy of nor opposition to homeland nationalism, diaspora nationalism is overwhelmingly ethnonational, with a focus on the cultural and historical aspects of identity. Activists are eager to promote Basque ethnicity and the cultural strands of a shared history, language, and ancestry, and they encourage the transnational ties for such objectives, but demands for Basque statehood or territorial control have been, and are, rarely expressed publicly. The ethnonational project is devoid of a speciWc state to control. There are minorities in each Basque community that harbor territorial and political goals of separatism and independent statehood for the seven provinces, but although homeland deWnitions of nationalism and “Basqueness” have progressed to more civic and inclusive nationalism, diaspora deWnitions have lagged behind. Exactly what does being Basque mean to these respondents? 81 Chapter Four Ethnonationalism and Political Attitudes in the Diaspora 04chap4.qxd 8/27/03 4:56 PM Page 81 Basque Diaspora Nationalism as Historically Both Political and Ethnic In a 1995 survey conducted by the Basque Autonomous Government that included all seven provinces of Euskal Herria, 64 percent of the respondents deWned themselves as “Basque,” 24 percent said they were not, and the rest deWned themselves as a mixture of Basque and French, or Basque and Spanish , or something else. Participants responding to a question asking, “What are the most important conditions necessary for a person to be considered a Basque?”1 marked as “most important” “Born in the Basque Country” (59 percent); “Live and work in the Basque Country (51 percent); “Speak the Basque language” (27 percent); “Comprehend and defend Basque culture” (15 percent); “Have Basque surnames” (10 percent); and “Be a Basque nationalist (abertzale)” (7 percent). Being “born in the Basque Country” and to “live and work in the Basque Country” received the highest selection rates. This shows a more civic deWnition of Basque identity, including more people in the Basque category, and the possibility of “becoming Basque.” Euskera has lost its importance for a majority of the population, as have ancestry and the political aspect of promoting Basque goals. This demonstrates a change from the traditional Sabino Arana deWnition of “Basqueness” as being a Basque nationalist (abertzale), having Basque ancestry or surnames, and speaking Basque. Not included in this homeland survey was the respondent’s attitude toward Catholicism and Basqueness, which was a signiWcant criterion for early nationalists and remains salient in diaspora opinions. Though homeland deWnitions of Basqueness and Basque nationalism have mutated, change in the diaspora has been almost imperceptible.When diaspora Basques have represented themselves politically rather than culturally, outcomes have varied widely. Argentina’s 1940 Committee for Basque Immigration successfully lobbied the Argentine president, Dr. Roberto Ortíz Lizardi (of Basque ancestry), to declare a special circumstance with privileges for thousands of Basque political refugees after the Spanish Civil War. Uruguayan democratic leaders slighted Franco’s Spain and openly celebrated the arrival of José Antonio de Aguirre y Lecube, president of the Basque government-inexile , to the Euskal Erria Basque Center. Yet Wfty years later in Montevideo, seven Basques were detained and judged for extradition to Spain as suspected eta sympathizers and activists—the...

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